Kami Rita on top of Everest for record 24 times, hundreds more heading towards summit
By Ramesh Tiwari —-
Kathmandu: Renowned climber Kami Rita Sherpa, 49, has reached the summit of highest peak Mt. Everest a record of 24 times with his second ascent in a week.
He scaled Mt. Everest for the 24th time on May 21 via the south-east ridge setting another record in the mountaineering history. He plans to scale Mt. Everest for the 25th time next year.
Earlier , climber Sherpa scaled Mount Everest for a 23rd time, breaking his own record of 22 successful ascents of the world’s highest peak last week.
Kami Rita, a native of Thame village of Solukhumbu , reached the 8,848-metre summit with other climbers via the Southeast Ridge route at 7:50 am on Wednesday ( May 15 ) , according to Tashi Lakpa Sherpa , MD at Seven Summit Treks .
Kami Rita , 49 , became the 3rd mountaineer to climb Mt. Everest for 21 times, equalizing the counts with Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa in 2017.
Kami, currently working as a senior Climbing Guide at Seven Summit Treks, scaled Mt Everest for the first time on May 13, 1994. He successfully scaled Everest, K2, Lhotse and Manaslu and Cho during 1994-2019, making 34 total ascents over 8000 m peaks.
Earlier, eight Nepali climbers of a rope-fixing team reached the top of the world’s highest peak yesterday, fixing the climbing ropes successfully to the summit of Mt. Everest.
The rope-fixing team of experienced Nepali climbers led by Siddhi Bahadur Tamang included Pas Dawa Sherpa, Dorji Gyaljen Sherpa , Pasang Dawa Sherpa , Dawa Nurbu Sherpa , Ming Dorjee Sherpa, Aang Phurba Sherpa and Sangbu Bhote Lama , according to liaison officer Gyanendra Shrestha .
The team’s expedition was facilitated by Himalayan Guides Nepal, Trek and Expedition and Medicine Mountaineering Expedition – 2019 while the rope-fixing was contracted by the Expedition Operators Association. The work to open the route up to the Camp II was assigned to the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (EPC).
A total of 379 climbers of 42 teams – 366 climbers from 36 foreign expedition teams and 13 climbers from six domestic teams- are attempting to scale the world’s highest peak this spring season.
Altogether, 851 climbers of different 119 expedition teams have been granted permission to climb 30 different mountain peaks including Everest this spring season, according to the Department of Tourism.
The government collected royalty of about Rs 495 million (4.5 million US dollar) from the climbing permits this season.
May 21, 2019
